1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to body garments capable of cooling the human body. These garments provide cooling of an individual by utilizing rapid expansion of compressed gases adjacent to the wearer to cause a drop in ambient temperature in the air adjacent to the wearer of the garment. These garments further provide cooling to an individual wearing such a garment by means of evaporative cooling from the gas that is moving due to its rapid exit from tubing through which it is circulated about the individual.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Body garments for the purpose of cooling appear in the patent record taking many shapes and forms. However, most of these patents regard body garments that cool through the circulation of a cool liquid through a piping network incorporated into a garment or through the specially constructed garment itself having its own circulatory network. Another focus of the prior art concerns cooling apparatus that cool through evaporative means. These devices are open systems, as opposed to the closed systems mentioned above, that is,they release cool air or vapor onto and over an individuals body to cool through evaporative means.
The present invention works, in a different fashion than these above mentioned patented inventions, by use of a rapidly expanding gas, preferably air, in the inner portion of a body garment in the area between the body garment and the individual to cool the individual not only through evaporative cooling but also by reducing the ambient temperature adjacent the individual due the rapid expansion of the gas being dispensed.
Although some structural elements of the present invention appear arguably similar to those found in the patent record, the patent record does not show a body cooling garment having all of the above mentioned features. For argumentative purposes the prior art is presented as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,321, issued to James R. Palma on Apr. 21, 1970, discloses clothing for cooling and heating the body. Palma's clothing affects the human body from the neck down by strategically locating heating coils and cooling conduits through the clothing. Temperature sensors are also incorporated into the clothing for accurate electrical temperature control of the clothing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,264, issued to Daniel L. Curtis on Mar. 16, 1971, discloses an evaporant cooling system comprising a light weight garment having a plurality of tubes connected in a parallel arrangement within the garment for the purposes of cooling the individual wearing same. This invention includes an inlet and an outlet manifold for circulating a liquid water-ammonia solution from a storage tank through the tubes. An exhaust port is also seen in fluid communication with the tubing for allowing the expended evaporant, the ammonia, to leave the system and further cool the individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,323, issued to Dan E. Troyer on Oct. 5, 1971, also discloses an evaporative cooling garment to be worn by an individual. This garment is seen as a vest-like coat having a plurality of passageways incorporated therein to create a coat from these side-by-side passageways. These passageways are also seen as having a plurality of openings thereon. When used, the Troyer coat is supplied from a reservoir with a quantity of liquid coolant comprising a water and refrigerant, preferably Freon, through an inlet valve. As the body is cooled the refrigerant evaporates, leaving the system, and is replaced from the reservoir until the source has been depleted.
Although the above mentioned two systems have means for bleeding off and releasing evaporated liquid and gas from within the cooling system, they do not teach a fully gas cooling vest capable of rapid depressurization and expansion of a gas to reduce the temperature of the air between a body garment and the body of the individual wearing such a garment. For this reason, it is stated that these references do not teach the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,053, issued to Eugene K. Parker on Jul. 10, 1973, discloses liquid loop garments for heating and cooling the body of and individual. This system is a closed system, releasing no liquid or gas for either heating or cooling purposes. Parker's garments are constructed of two, liquid impervious, material layers having insulation as well as other materials attached thereto.
Jumping ahead to U.S. Pat. No 4,949,375, issued to Robert L. Nathans on Dec. 25, 1990, we see a mat utilizing the same type of closed system for circulating a fluid for cooling purposes that was disclosed in the Parker patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,415, issued to John D. Larsen on Mar. 12, 1991, discloses a body cooling apparatus including a tubing system for circulating a fluid that is moved not only through the tubing within the apparatus but through a compressor and a condenser in order to remove heat from the body of an individual wearing the apparatus. Larsen's apparatus also includes a head cooling apparatus integrally connecting to the tubing of the main, body supported, apparatus for cooling the head of an individual.
Although tubing for circulating fluids about an individual are seen in these above mentioned patent references, they do not disclose a system that is capable of lowering temperatures in the surrounding air through rapid expansion of a gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,282, issued to Christopher S. Wagner on Oct. 23, 1990, discloses a detachable bulletproof vest air conditioning apparatus. Wagner's apparatus comprises a piping system that connects to a pre-cooled air source and ducts and channels the air into the interior of the vest, between the vest and the individual, to cool the wearer of said vest. Again, we see another example of evaporative cooling with pre-cooled air moving at standard pressure and a predetermined temperature.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,062,269 and 5,146,625 disclose body cooling devices that utilize disposable and removable cooling units.
Lastly, the Personal Cooling and Heating Systems of VORTEC CORPORATION present air cooling body apparatus. These apparatus however, are not fully pressurized at all times since they simply pump expanded and cooled air into the vest and helmet from an expansion chamber outside the vest. These apparatus operate at a maximum pressure of only 100 psi and use a large quantity of air in a range up to 34 cubic feet per minute.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.